BLACK FILES, THE

Scientist Ben McGee provides expert insight to Mike Baker on footage of an aircraft exhibiting propulsion more advanced than any known systems.

US Navy Released UFO Video Footage to Little Fanfare Amidst Pandemic

By: Mike Baker

The previously leaked videos have been declassified and confirmed to be real by the Pentagon. Science Channel's BLACK FILES DECLASSIFIED host Mike Baker talks us through these "unidentified objects" that were sighted.

April 29, 2020

Before the pandemic, if the US Government released official military videos of unidentified flying objects, I suspect it would be considered startling and headline worthy. But these are not normal times.

UFO Footage Released

The global pandemic has the world singularly focused. Too focused, as it turns out, to devote much attention to the Pentagon’s release this week of three US Navy videos showing unidentified objects filmed by intercepting naval aviators in 2004 and also 2015. While the videos were originally published in 2017 and 2018 by the private company To The Stars Academy of Arts & Sciences and then the New York Times, the release of the footage by the Pentagon officially confirms the sightings. The Navy offers no explanation of the objects other than to say that they remain unidentified.

In an interesting coincidence of timing, Science Channel viewers had the opportunity earlier this month to see some of the footage and hear from some of those involved, including Commander David Fravor, one of the pilots who had eyes on target during the 2004 encounter over the Pacific Ocean. As the host of BLACK FILES DECLASSIFIED, it was my privilege and fascinating experience to interview Commander Fravor as well as Lou Elizondo, the former head of the Pentagon’s Advanced Aviation Threat Identification Program (ATIP.)

Black Files Declassified Photo Gallery

Black Files Declassified Investigates the U.S. Military's Biggest Secrets 7 Photos

Every year, the government funds clandestine programs collectively called the black budget. But what’s exactly behind these secretive missions operating around the globe? Former CIA operative Mike Baker will dig into these mysterious programs each week in Black Files Declassified.

Skeptical?

Now, having spent almost two decades with the Central Intelligence Agency, I consider myself a bit of a skeptic when it comes to assessing the unknown. Working in CIA operations, you learn to be pragmatic about the seemingly unexplainable. When I heard that episode 3 of BLACK FILES DECLASSIFIED would deal with ATIP and unidentified objects, I admit to being skeptical at the outset.

That was before I met Commander Fravor, reviewed the gun camera footage from that day in 2004 as well as the 2015 material, and spoke with Lou Elizondo, and others, about the mission and activities of ATIP. The experience and credibility of Commander Fravor is not in question, nor is the veracity and authenticity of the video footage. The existence of ATIP and the fact that the Pentagon has been investigating unidentified phenomena is also now not in question.

I’ve had to dial back my ingrained cynicism as a result of this experience. We don’t have an explanation for the objects in the footage. That doesn’t mean that what we are seeing is alien technology or otherworldly.

It also doesn't mean that it’s not. As the US military has acknowledged this week, we just don’t know.

For more on UFO sightings, watch BLACK FILES DECLASSIFIED on Science Channel GO.

Mike Baker

Mike Baker is the host of Science Channel’s BLACK FILES DECLASSIFIED and former CIA covert operations officer.

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